New England Distribution

Non-native: introduced
(intentionally or
unintentionally); has become naturalized.

County documented: documented
to exist in the county by
evidence (herbarium specimen, photograph). Also covers
those considered historical (not seen in 20 years).

State documented: never been
documented from the
county, but known from the state. May be present. Or,
may be restricted to a small area or a habitat (alpine,
marsh, etc.), so unlikely found in some
counties.

Note: when native and non-native
populations both exist in a county, only native status
is shown on the map.

North America Distribution

Facts About

King Solomon's-seal was formerly divided into two species, one being somewhat larger and more robust. Whether this division should stand is not resolved. The Cherokee ate the roots or ground them to make bread. They also cooked and ate the stems and leaves.

Synonyms

Family

Genus

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Information from Dichotomous Key of Flora Novae Angliae

1. Polygonatum biflorum
(Walt.) Ell.
N

King Solomon’s-seal.
Convallaria biflora Walt.,
pro parte;
Polygonatum biflorum (Walt.) Ell. var.
commutatum (J.A. & J.H. Schultes) Morong;
P. commutatum (J.A. & J.H. Schultes) A. Dietr.
•
CT, MA, ME,
NH,
VT. Rich, dry-mesic to mesic, upland forests and woodlands, riparian forests, embankments, fields, roadsides. Though native, this species is also commonly planted in New England (generally it is robust forms that are cultivated).
Polygonatum biflorum is sometimes treated as being comprised of two species—a diploid (
P.biflorum) and a tetraploid (
P.commutatum). Though the tetraploid is usually larger (rhizomes 15–30 mm thick, stems 5–13 mm thick at the lowest leaves, peduncles 2- to 10-flowered, tepals 17–20 mm long) compared with the diploid (rhizomes 6–15 mm thick, stems 1.5–5 mm thick at the lowest leaves, peduncles 2- or 3 (–5)-flowered, tepals 10–17 mm long), some diploids have been collected that are fully as large as any tetraploid. This has led some authors to treat the entire complex as a single, variable species (which is followed here until more detailed studies are performed). That stated, local ecological differences have been observed between diploids and tetraploids, lending support to the hypothesis that plants with different ploidy levels may represent real taxa that deserve recognition at some level. This species was reported from
RI by Kartesz (1999), based on George (1992); however, George (1999) stated this species is not naturalized in
RI.